Residents asked to answer survey

RANDOLPH – The Randolph City Council is seeking citizen input to help improve the community.

At its meeting last week, the council approved a community profile survey which will be administered by the Northeast Nebraska Economic Development District (NENEDD) in March. The city’s Economic Development Advisory Board (EDAB) is spearheading the survey effort.

“They went painstakingly through those surveys and came up with 28 questions that they then sent back to NENEDD” to have formatted into a survey for Randolph residents to fill out, Randolph City Administrator/ Clerk Ben Benton said.

Board members are excited about putting out the community profile survey to get feedback from residents.

The survey will include questions on community needs, the public library, public works, public parks, housing and downtown revitalization, among other topics.

NENEDD required approval from the council recorded in the meeting minutes as a show of support to move forward with rolling out the survey.

Although the survey could be described as “lengthy,” information gleaned from responses will be valuable in pursuing grants to better the community, Benton said.

“It would be pretty instrumental in having some feedback from the residents in case there was to be a grant written for (the Nebraska Affordable Housing Trust Fund) or low-income housing,” Benton said. “Does the general public think we need single-family homes versus apartments? Do they support downtown revitalization? Do they want to see more amenities in the park?”

Copies of the survey will be available in paper form at the Randolph city office and online through a link on the city’s website and Facebook page, along with a QR code published in the Randolph Times newspaper that could be scanned by smartphones.

Council member Daniel Korth said having it available in multiple formats will allow the survey to reach as many community members as possible.

“Any paper copies turned in – they’d be scanned and sent to NENEDD,” Benton said, adding the organization would turn the survey results into a report that would be presented at a future council meeting.

In other action at last week’s meeting, council members accepted Benton’s resignation as city administrator/ clerk with his last day set for Friday, March 15.

Benton took a position as the director of the Small Business Development Center office in Wayne.

Council members designated Josh Rayford, city treasurer/deputy clerk, as interim city administrator starting on March 16.

Rayford’s pay will increase with 50 percent of the city administrator position wage on top of his current city treasurer/deputy clerk wages while performing the duties of both positions.

Interviews were held Saturday for potential police chief candidates as Chief Pat Eller retires this spring.